"It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have." ~ James Baldwin

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

P O Box 1752 Paris TX 75461 ~ 903.783.9232 ~ naacp6213@yahoo.com

Meets First Thursday of Each Month at 6:00 PM ~ 121 E Booth

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Barbara Jordan

I can imagine the cadences of her eloquence echoing at the speed of light past orbiting planets and pulsars, past black holes and white dwarfs and hundreds of millions of sun-like stars, until the whole cosmic spectrum stretching out to the far fringes of space towards the very origins of time resonates to her presence. ~ Bill Moyers

Barbara Jordanwas the first African American elected to the Texas Senate after reconstruction and the first Southern black woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Born in Houston on February 21, 1936, she was a graduate of Texas Southern University in Houston (where the Barbara Jordan Institute For Policy Researchis named in her honor) and the Boston University School of Law, and a member of Delta Sigma Thetasorority.

Ms. Jordan first came into the national spotlight during the Nixon impeachment hearings in 1974, and she later gave the keynote address at the 1976 Democratic National Convention. She passed away on January 17, 1996 after a long battle with Multiple Sclerosis.